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Thursday, 30 May 2013

Britain's last Guantanamo detainee Shaker Aamer 'falling apart'

29 May 2013
Last updated at 09:53
EThttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22701770Shaker Aamer, the last
remaining British resident at Guantanamo Bay, fears that when he is
finally released he will not respond when his children shout 'Daddy'.
The man called detainee 239 for the last 11 years said not being
known as just a number would take some getting used to.
Mr Aamer remains in Guantanamo despite never being charged of any
crime and having been cleared for release twice since 2007.

But in answers given exclusively to BBC Radio 5 Live's Victoria
Derbyshire show, he believes he will be released "very soon".

News of a mass hunger strike among the 166 detainees at Guantanamo
led US President Barack Obama to recently repeat his 2008 election
pledge to close the facility.

But there is still no date as to when it will close and when Mr
Aamer will be allowed back home to his family in London.

'Cannot stand up'

Having joined the hunger strike in February, Mr Aamer says he is
"falling apart like an old car".

"The hunger strike is a simple matter: it is about justice," he says.

"There are 86 detainees here, including me, who have been cleared by
the Americans - cleared to leave this place, but they are still here.

"There are 80 who are not cleared but they have not been tried. It
is ironic. President Obama seems to agree with us that the place should
be closed, so presumably he agrees with our hunger strike."

Drinking just one cup of coffee and one cup of tea a day, Mr Aamer
acknowledges the hunger strike is starting to affect his health.

"I have not been able to read for a month now. My eyes are going. I
cannot remember anything. I forget things.

"I cannot stand up. I fall down. But I don't want to fall down too
much. They will do a code yellow on me, when they burst into my cell
and step on my hands.

"It is cold in here. You might not think so as it's 70.5 degrees.
But when you've not eaten for 100 days that's cold.

"I try to do exercise in my cell. A brother told me to do some
gentle things to keep my body warm. But it is hard on my heart and I
need to conserve myself. "

Originally from Saudi Arabia, the 46-year-old has permission to live
in the UK indefinitely because his wife is a British national. When Mr
Aamer was detained in 2001, he had three children and his wife was
pregnant.

"I have never even met my youngest child, who was born on the very
day I arrived in Guantánamo Bay, February 14 2002," he says.

"I have missed my other three lovely children for 11 years. I have
missed my wife for 11 years. I have missed my life for 11 years."

'Demand only justice'

He was arrested in Afghanistan in 2001 by US authorities, who said
he led a unit of fighters against Nato troops and had met Osama Bin
Laden.

But Mr Aamer has always said he was in the country with his family
to undertake charity work.

His cause has support among the British public, with more than
100,000 people signing a petition calling for his release.

The Foreign Office told the BBC it had continued to "make clear to
the US that we want him released and returned to the UK as a matter of
urgency".

Mr Aamer says it is difficult for him to say if the British
government has been doing enough on his behalf to facilitate his
release.

"For the last months I have not been allowed to see the news. I have
never received a letter from the British government. I have even been
prevented from writing to William Hague, the foreign secretary," he
says.

"I can only rely on my lawyer, Clive (Stafford Smith), for
information on this, and it is his opinion that Mr Hague is sincere in
his efforts to secure my release.

"For that, I thank him. I am not begging for help. I will never beg
for help. I demand only justice."

He says he hopes the "whole world" now recognises and supports the
Guantanamo detainees' plight.

Some of the guards are "beautiful people", he says, but he has no
kind words for the prison's administration.

When asked if he fears being punished for speaking out, Mr Aamer
replies: "What more can they do to me that they have not already done?"

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DARCY D= YOU MUST BELIEVE.STANDING UP FOR THE INNOCENT C.E.O
The United Kingdom resident champions causes of the voiceless, the powerless and the weak, particularly in North America. She campaigns for petitions on behalf of incarcerated human trafficking.